Last year's amarylys plants.....

are still alive, with green leaves and making babies. I've had them in pots since I planted them about last November. So now, should I dry them up, dig up the bulbs and let them sleep awhile or just keep watering them and let them grow. Should the babies be repotted?

Mine (I have 6) have never made a baby. What prompts them to do that?

I dry mine starting about now, in a dark closet for 2 months or so, and then bring them out and start watering again. I stagger bringing them out of dormancy, and have flowers from Christmas to Easter (inside, of course). Every other year I re-pot them.

I'm not an expert in Amarylis(or anything for that matter) but have grown them for a few years. From what I've read and tried they do not have to have a rest and the more they can grow the more leaves they have which equals more bloom. Sometimes I rest mine when they come in at the end of summer. Either way works. I read that some varieties are more prone to make babies, but that is not a desireable trait for breeders cause then we don't buy as many. If you want to try them from seed it is very easy, but they should be sown right away, when the pod breaks.


This message was edited Jan 26, 2005 8:31 PM

Thanks for the info. I think I will just repot them and let them grow. They were new last year and I planted them all the same day. The pots were just barely larger than the bulbs, with maybe an inch for root space all around. One woke up right away and had finished blooming before the next one was doing much, the last one just sat there, grew very slowly and finally did bloom about 4 months after the first one. Echoes, that page link didn't open for me but thanks for trying.

That's funny, it works for me. Just takes a few seconds to come up.

So all I have to do to get my resting bulbs back is just
take them out of the closet, pot them and water them.
I tried this one time before and never got any blooms just
leaves. Should I have fertilized it more?

Thanks
Gina

Don't fertilize the bulbs until they are growing leaves. The bulbs need a certain amount of time to develop flower buds. In that time they need enough light and nutrition. Either from a baby or after a bulb has bloomed. The more leaves they develop the more flower stalks they can make.

anyone know a good place to buy big size amaryllis bulbs

This message was edited Oct 9, 2004 7:19 PM

Mine came from a discount store and were packed in a box with pot, soil, and bulb. Two of them were really slow to wake up but all eventually bloomed. I should have checked the size of the bulb before I bought them, but I had never had an amaryllys before and didn't think about checking the bulb size. You might do ok with discount store stuff if you are careful.

I used to follow directions for amarylli but then I lost the papers with directions, so I just treat them the same as all my houseplants-they go out for the summer, get fertilized occasionally, repotted when too big for the pot, in for the winter. They have thrived. But maybe I'm just lucky...

Funny, I was thinking that wherever these grow wild there is nobody taking them up, drying the, replanting, etc, so why should I?

Mary--just wondering--did you get any Amaryllis this winter from your last year's bulbs? t.

No sign of any bloom stalks yet and they are all just sitting there, green leaves but not much bigger than last year after they bloomed. They might be out of food I think I will just slide them out of their pots, add more soil and put them back down without disturbing the roots. If they bloom this year I will let you all know.

Be careful, most amarylli like to be crowded.

Ok, well, then maybe I will go the liguid fertilizer route, thanks.

I use liquid fertilizer and water once a week. I also ignore them pretty much and let them surprise me with flowers. "A watched amaryllis never blooms."

Blau--John Scheeper/VanEngelen generally have a wide selection of Amaryllis at pretty good prices. Mr. Ohm, one of the owners, has a special interest in Amaryllis and tries to stock some new/special kinds among the old favorites--
http://www.johnscheepers.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Category&_category=Amaryllis

It's pretty late right now so the stock is thin, but a good resource for next year...t.

This message was edited Jan 28, 2005 11:16 AM
trying to get the link to work!

This message was edited Jan 28, 2005 11:19 AM

thank you tabasco appreciate info will keep in mind